Robert W. Cardoza

Regional President, West, President FirstService Residential/California

With more than 25 years of experience in association planning and management services, Bob Cardoza drives the company’s vision and directs strategies for product innovation and both client and associate growth and retention.  He oversees California’s management portfolio of approximately 540 associations, representing over 155,000 residential and commercial units.  In addition, he is responsible for the operations of Merit Association Services, Mar West Realty and Association Escrow Services.

Previously, Cardoza served as CEO of The Merit Companies, which became part of FirstService Residential in 2007.  During his 25-year tenure at Merit, he held several senior executive level positions, including President of Merit Association Services, a nationally recognized association consulting company that works with some of the country’s leading land developers and home builders.  In this role, he provided community association forward planning services for Rancho Mission Viejo, Ladera Ranch, The Preserve, Mission Bay of San Francisco, Playa Vista and other prestigious developments.

Cardoza holds a designation as a Certified Community Association Manager (CCAM) from the California Association of Community Managers, and is a member of the Building Industry Association and the Urban Land Institute (ULI).  In addition, he serves on a variety of building industry committees and councils and is a sought-after industry speaker.

Kellie Sambrano, CMCA®

Senior Vice President, FirstService Association Consulting

Kellie is responsible for overseeing the company’s forward planning and budget consulting team for new developments throughout the state. She has over 18 years of experience in community management operations and working with national and local builders, developers and association boards. Kellie has worked on a variety of projects, including active adult, mixed-use urban and high-rise developments and master-planned communities. Her expertise includes implementing governance modeling, financial tools, Department of Real Estate (DRE) budget preparation, as well as amenity and staff planning.

She maintains professional certification from the Community Association Institute (CAI) and serves on the Orange County Regional Chapter of the Publications Committee. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, Berkeley and is a member of the United Way committee.

Rickilee DiZinno

Budget Analyst, FirstService Association Consulting

Rickilee DiZinno has been on the FirstService Association Consulting team since September 2021. She directly works with builders and developers to ensure quality service with all administrative duties, as well as, assisting Consultants with budget creation and various DRE forms and guidelines. Rickilee is from Santa Barbara, California where she attended college and then later moved to San Francisco. Rickilee maintains regular communication with our internal Consulting team regarding invoicing, contracting, PlanSwift takeoffs and all monthly DRE budget updates. Along with assisting internally, she also facilitates essential functions such as generating HOA handbooks and all Aging Reports. She is effectively organized and has implicit attention to detail which aligns the team to their fullest potential.

Tao Long

Senior Management and Budget Consultant, FirstService Association Consulting

As Senior Management and Budget Consultant, Tao works closely with several builder and developers as well as many of our key clients, including Rancho Mission Viejo.  Tao’s has an extensive finance background and not only collaborates with our clients to prepare budget packages for submittal to the Department of Real Estate, he is an expert at budget review and scenario creation, association assessment rate analysis and subsidy projections.

Tao obtained his Master’s Degree in Economics from University of Southern California, he specialized in real estate research and analysis, budget management, project coordination and brings over ten years’ experience and knowledge to the team.

Brian Schiefelbein

Director of Developer Services, FirstService Association Consulting

Brian oversees Developer Services, with dedicated support teams focused on all developer related matters pertaining to annexation of new communities, escrow functions, assessment billing, and bonds. With an operational background, Brian aligns the company’s vision with customer-focused infrastructure supporting developers, association boards, budget consulting, and community management. He also works directly with developers and builders through the Department of Real Estate (DRE) budget preparation and submittal process as part of the forward planning and budget consulting team.

Prior to joining FirstService, Brian built a successful DRE Escrow company, bringing additional expertise in Title and Escrow, implementing governing compliance, legal agreements, and market expansion initiatives. He earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton.

Juliana Hennig

Project Coordinator, FirstService Association Consulting

Our accounting, administrative tasks, and FHA certifications are handled by Juliana. Working directly with builders and our internal teams she ensures insurance is up to date, writes Rules and Regulations for current communities, and submits FHA certification to the HUD.

Previously Juliana graduated from University of California Santa Barbara with Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics. During her studies she worked as the administrative assistant for the UCSB Theater and Dance department where she coordinated productions, promoted performances, and handled public announcements about the department.